The Be One Life

Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength together a one.

Faith < Love > Hope

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FaithlovehopeIn Corinthians 13, Paul teaches us to abide in faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love. Faith, hope, and love, are all essential pieces of a Christian’s life. Faith being the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen (Heb. 11:1-2). Through God’s great mercy, he causes us to be born again to a living hope, through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ from to an inheritance that is imperishishable, undies, and unfading, kept in heaven for us, who by God’s power are being guarding through faith for a salvation that will be revealed (1Peter 1:3-5). God showed us what love is by giving his only son to die on the cross to save the world, so that who ever believes will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16-17). Hope, faith, and love all work together for us to be reconciled with God and recieve his gift of salvation, so why does Paul say that love is the greatest of the three?
Paul tells us in Romans 8:24-25 that our hope is in salvation and we hope for what we have not seen. Once we see what we have been hoping for, it is no longer hope. Therefore, once our hope in eternal life with Christ is realized, hope will end. The same is true with faith. Once we see heaven, faith for salvation will end. Love, however, is different. Love is eternal, it is what brings Jesus and God the Father together as one and love brings all those who follow Jesus together as one in Him (John 17:21-26). Jesus showed the greatest act of love by sacrificing his life on the cross for us, while we were all sinners, to reconcile us with God and save us with his life (Romans 5:7-11).

Another reason love is so great is that nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:38-39). God’s love is everlasting (Psalms 103:17-18). One day faith and hope will cease, but love will remain. Jesus says if we love him, we will keep his commandments (John 14:15). We can show our love for Jesus each day by following his two greatest commandments: love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:29-31).  When we love God, ourselves, and each other the way Christ intented, our love will endure forever.

Love Yourself

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Love yourself“The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” -Jesus (Mark 12:31)

Most people look at this verse as a command to show love to those around us. While this is true, Jesus is also giving an implicit command to love yourself. It is impossible for me to show love to my neighbor as I do myself without first loving myself. This is not a conceited, self-centered kind of love–it is based on my intrinsic value as a child of God.

God loves each of us and put unmeasurable value on us. Jesus asked in Mark 8:36, “Is anything worth more than your soul?” We love God because he first loved us and put such a priceless value on our souls that sent his son to die for us and raised him to give us a new life. Shouldn’t we love ourselves as God loves us?

Loving yourself does not mean indulging in all your selfish desires. To love your self as God intended is to die to you worldly self and living into your new creation in Christ (Mark 8:35; Colossians 3:1-4). We fulfill the love that Jesus commanded by loving our souls enough to live for Him.

Out of your love for your own soul will flow the love for your spouse and others. Today and everyday live to Love God, Love Yourself, and Love Others! ‪

Meditation Monday – Episode 7 – John 15:14-15

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john15_14-15Happy Meditation Monday! Today we will focus on John 15:14-15.

“You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.”  -John 15:14-5

Joy When a Sinner Repents

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doublereversewarrior“I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” -Jesus (Luke 15:10)

Do you feel lost? Do you feel far from God? Is there anything in your life that is bounding your heart and suffocating your soul? Jesus says to come to Him–rest your burdens, your sin, your guilt on Him. Repent and sin no more. Confess with your mouth that He is Lord. Be baptized so that Jesus’s blood can wash away each of those sins and rise with a new life in Christ, clean and free, a Child of God. Your Heavenly Father will throw a celebration in heaven for you and say, “For this my child was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ (Matthew 11:28-30; Luke 13:5; John 3:5; Matthew 28:18-20; Romans 6:3-4; John 8:36; 1 John 3:9; Hebrews 10:22; Luke 15:24)

For those of us who are are already in Christ, let us not remain bound by anger and resentment when our spouse, children, or friends wrong us. Forgive them, give it to God, and let it go. Let us be quicker to celebrate when they ask for forgiveness than we are to point out their faults. Let us celebrate with God each time someone repents and turns to him. For now they too get to share in all of God’s rich blessings. Stay Free! (Matthew 6:14; Luke 15:11-32, Galatians 5:1)

Failed Pose

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As I was practicing functional therapeutic movement this morning, meditating on the Word, my mind wandered to a picture that captured me in a difficult yoga pose. Even though I only held the pose for a few seconds, it looked really amazing frozen in a photo. I thought of posting it to show my yoga progress and to be honest, look impressive.  I let that thought go and returned to thinking about the Word.

After I finished my practice, I sat down to read, and the words of Jesus in Luke 14:11 rang true to me about that thought from earlier. 

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” – Luke 14:11

I realized that Jesus wants me to shine my light to direct others to Him with my failures as well as my successes. Shining a light on my failures is a humbling and frightening task for this recovering perfectionist. So instead of posting a highlight pic, I decided to recover a deleted “fail” pic and post that instead.

Sharing this picture was a very humbling experience for me. My wife has been able to stand in tree pose for years without any problem. For me, on the other hand, tree pose is hit or miss, depending on the day. Trying to do double tree pose as partners brings in another level of difficulty. Tree pose requires core strength and a lot of balance and. With a partner, it requires all this on top of counterbalancing.

Marriage is very similar to double tree pose in that it is balancing act to keep each other rooted down and standing tall. We all have our strengths and weaknesses; and thankfully, my wife and I balance each other out, most of the time.

On that day (and many others), I didn’t have the balance. My lack of balance required my wife to do more counterbalancing to compensate. A similar thing often happens in marriage–one spouse might have to help hold the other up during difficult situations. When both partners are able to root down on a solid foundation, it is easier to stand firm. When a couple’s faith is rooted in the love of Jesus, they will have the strength to stand tall during hard times.

Even though I was messing up the pose and the pictures, my sweet wife never expressed her frustration with me; she only gave words of encouragement. A marriage characterized by building each other up during trials will come out stronger and closer to God.

Today I want to share my failed pose as a reminder of my humbling experience and my gratitude that I have a wonderful partner in both yoga and life to help me when I struggle. ‪

Stay Free

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Stay FreeHappy Freedom Friday! Its the day where we like to remind ourselves and you that WE ARE FREE!

During this crazy busy season when the world tells you to do more, buy more, and hustle more, we want to remind you that Christ has set you FREE to simply BE in Him. SPEND some time today with the ONE who loves you most, and then let that love bubble up and overflow to your spouse and the world around you!

Embrace freedom friend, it belongs to you if you belong to Him!

God’s Love Is…

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GodsloveisGod’s love is… (God is love. -1 John 4:8)

First – “We love because He FIRST loved us. “-1 John 4:19
Faithful-  “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.” -Deuteronomy 7:9

Forever – “Love never ends.” -1 Corinthians 13:8

For You – “for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” -John 16:27

God.Loves.YOU.”For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”-Romans 8:38-39. When we are secure in God’s love, we allow our lights to shine and that love to flow freely in our marriages, families, and friendships.

The Be One Life

The Be One Life

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